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Wanted to invite all of you to come to the lecture I am organizing at ARTSEEN next Tuesday 2/3 at 7pm. We briefly looked at an article from the book “What We Want Is Free: Critical Exchanges in Recent Art” last semester when we were discussing Social Practice. The artists who authored the book will be here to give a talk. I am attaching the article “No Longer Normal: Critical Exchanges in the Landscape of Art” to this post if anyone is interested in reading it.

Explores how contemporary artists use gifts, barter, and other forms of nonmonetary exchange as a means and medium of artistic production.

This revised edition of What We Want Is Free examines a twenty-year history of artistic productions that both model and occupy the various forms of exchange within contemporary society. From shops, gifts, and dinner parties to contract labor and petty theft, contemporary artists have used a variety of methods that both connect participants to tangible goods and services and, at the same time, offer critiques of and alternatives to global capitalism and other forms of social interaction. Examples of these various projects include the creation of free commuter bus lines and medicinal plant gardens, the distribution of such services as free housework or computer programming, and the production of community media projects such as free commuter newspapers and democratic low-wattage radio stations.

Like the first edition, the second edition includes a detailed survey of artists’ projects from around the globe, as well as critical essays and artists’ texts that explore the underlying social history and contemporary issues that further inform our reading of these works. This new edition also features a new introduction and additional chapters on the relation of exchange practices to democracy, the commons, object-oriented philosophy, and an examination of the impact of ongoing globalization on the economics of artists’ projects. It also features a significantly expanded scope for the project histories, including work from the past decade and a new section dedicated to artist-initiated organizations and innovative models for new institutions.

Praise for the First Edition

“If you are an artist, read this book. No matter how you define and structure your practice, the essays within What We Want Is Free will lead you to consider important questions about how you work and what kind of life a project can lead.” — Nailed Magazine

TED PURVES:

Ted Purves is a writer and artist based in Oakland. His public projects and curatorial works are centered on investigating the practice of art in the world, particularly as it addresses issues of localism, democratic participation, and innovative shifts in the position of the audience. His two-year project, Temescal Amity Works, created in collaboration with Susanne Cockrell and based in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, facilitated and documented the exchange of backyard produce and finished its public phase in winter 2007. His collaborative project Momentary Academy, a free school taught by artists over a period of 10 weeks, was featured in Bay Area Now 4 in 2005 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Ted recently received a visual arts grant from the Creative Capital Foundation and a Creative Work Fund grant from the Elise and Walter Haas Foundation. Ted Purves is the chair of Graduate Fine Arts program at California College of Arts in San Francisco.

SHANE ASLAN SELZER:

Shane Aslan Selzer is an artist, writer and organizer whose practice develops micro-communities where artists can expand on larger social issues such as exchange, critique and failure. Selzer is a founding member and Co-Director of Global Crit Clinic, an international peer learning network for artists working to diversify the field by sharing tools for participation. GCC is currently an artist in residence at Triangle Arts Association in Brooklyn, NY through a program titled, Letters to the Art World. Selzer is the Co-Editor of, What We Want Is Free: Critical Exchanges in Recent Art (SUNY Press, 2014). The book examines a twenty-year history of artistic productions that both model and occupy the various forms of exchange within contemporary society; from shops, gifts, and dinner parties to contract labor and petty theft. In each of these projects Selzer assembles spaces where people can learn through interaction with others by provoking discourse that is informed by circumstances that are too often held “outside” of art.

Shane is a professor of Art at The New School for Liberal Arts at Parsons in New York City.

ATTENTION: THE ARTS NEED AND WANT YOU (If not you, please forward to friends!)The Miami Rail, one of the most respected and widely distributed arts publications in Miami today, is looking for interns to assist in the creation of high quality cultural journalism.

We’re looking for smart, creative individuals who are passionate about the arts and culture, and willing and thirsty to learn the ropes of 21st century arts publishing — everything from the editorial process of copy editing and fact checking, to the physical and digital production of a high caliber magazine, website, and social media presence.

That said, we’re looking to fill two positions: Editorial Assistant and Production Assistant, for the upcoming Spring and Summer 2015 issues. The interns will work closely with staff through the stages of publication.

Students are highly encouraged to apply, as this is a unique opportunity and will count towards class credit. The internships, however, are open to all (college students and students of life equally considered). Internships are unpaid at this time.

Candidates must:

• Be based in Miami

• Own a car (gas money is reimbursed), and a computer

• Not be overloaded with other commitments

• Be flexible and organized

• Have a willingness to learn and take initiative

• Communicate well, and ask plenty of questions

If interested, please reply with a statement of interest and an attached CV or resume to administrator@miamirail.org
Sincerely,
The Miami Rail

This artist is at Fountainhead Residency and is looking for help with her project… read below what she describes she is looking for. This would be a great experience for whoever is interested to work with her and also to spend time at the residency.

Contact Yeon (pronounced “young” fyi) at- yeonjinkim4@gmail.com

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During the residency, I am building a set and diorama for my next animation video. As I told you, I am looking for an intern who can help me with cutting paper and cardboard, basic drawing skills, mostly pencil drawing. My process is repetitive and obsessive so someone patient and responsible would be suitable for this job. Once or twice a week for 2-3 hours would be really helpful for me to finish one or two sequences here.

I am sending you the links to my website to see the examples of my dioramas.

Auto Body, a four-day video and performance project, will debut December 4, 2014 during Miami Art Week. Featuring works by 33 international female artists, with a focus on Miami based artists, the time-based project will include a dynamic installation of 25 videos and a daily performance program. The exhibition will be staged at the defunct, 7,500 square-footGiant Motors: Auto Body & Paint Shop(1750 Bay Road, Miami Beach), less than one mile away from the Miami Beach Convention Center. Selected artists were nominated by a curatorial platform consisting of over 25 international female curators. A local curatorial advisory committee consisting of: Ximena Caminos (Director/Chief Curator, Faena Art Buenos Aires and Faena Forum Miami Beach), Tami Katz-Freiman (Independent Curator, former Chief Curator, Haifa Museum of Art), Brandi Reddick (Curator/Artists Manager, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places), and Chana Budgazad Sheldon(Executive Director, Locust Projects), who are making significant contributions to the Miami art community, selected the final works. Auto Body is a traveling exhibition. In the next year, Auto Body will travel to Faena Art Buenos Aires, running concurrently with the debut of Bienal Performance 2015 and ArteBA 2015. As the show travels, the amount of participating artists will increase and continue to become more diverse. In each new location there will be a local focus allowing new conversations to take shape. Auto Body is a non-commercial, W.A.G.E. Certified project produced by Miami based Spinello Projects.

Auto Body presents performativity as a powerful vehicle for transcendence, movement and transformation. By examining the political and economic inequalities of the art world, Auto Body serves as a platform for a variety of female voices. Focusing on time based practices as an alternative to an object driven market, this exhibition presents the body as language. From budding YoungArts U.S. Presidential Scholar Paloma Izquierdo to 2014 Whitney Biennial artist A.L. Steiner, Auto Body will present a multi-generational scope of artists.